The Rumour Mill

Moving across the country and starting in a new school is daunting for anyone, so settling in unnoticed is the best you can hope for, especially when your mum is the school's new head teacher. So when Libby makes friends and meets the boy of her dreams even before school starts she can't believe her luck. But as we all know nothing is ever that easy.
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Chapters:

"Libby, come on!" My mum yelled from downstairs,
yeah well you can shout all you want, I'm not going I
thought as I threw myself onto my bed, before reaching over
putting my headphones on and turning my stereo up.

Why couldn't she understand? I didn't want to be in
this stupid town and I certainly didn't want to spend my last
night of freedom before I had to register at my new school with a
bunch of strangers. Just because she's decided it'd be good for
me to meet the neighbours, I DON'T CARE! So what if they've got
kids my age, unless they are some kind of freaks surely they'll
already have friends of their own, I mean why would they want to
suddenly buddy up with me? I know if I was in their shoes I'd
wanna keep a wide berth from the 'new kid'. Oh God I feel sick,
the new kid, new kid! I didn't want to be the fucking new kid; I
want to be popular, I was one of the faces in my old school, all
I wanna do is hang out with my 'real' friends, is that really too
much to ask for? Well apparently yes it is!

"Jesus, Libby" My mum screamed to me at the same time
the blaring music from my ears pounded round my room. I opened my
eyes to see my mum diving for the volume dial whilst still
holding the connection for my headphones.

"What's your problem?" I screamed at her, I cringed internally as
I heard the tone of my voice. My mum must have the patience
of a saint, I thought, cause believe me if
someone would have spoken to me like that I'd of kicked the shit
out of them.

"We're leaving!" She yelled, oh yeah she was pissed,
that was a tone that said 'don't even think about messing with
me'. I sighed and mumbled my disharmony, but I knew it was
futile...I was going.

I looked at myself in the mirror; the reflection
staring back at me wore the uniform of every other teenage girl I
knew, skinny jeans, converse and some nondescript top, way to
go to be an individual Lib, I thought as I ran the
comb through my mahogany pixie cut before applying a little light
make up. I may not want to be friends with these people but I
also didn't want to gain a reputation as a troll before I even
got to the stupid school. Quickly appraising my look and deciding
I'd pass I stomped down the stairs to my waiting mother.

"Oh you look nice love" She patronised, yeah now
you want to be all pally, pally, cause you know you've got your
own way I scowled as I trudged passed her, she didn't even
try to hide the victorious grin on her face.

We were spending the evening with the Dawson's and
their twins, Connah and Reah, they were in my year but I think a
couple of months older than me. When our removals van turned up
yesterday morning Mrs Dawson was the first to pop over and
welcome us to the neighbourhood. After she had discovered my mum
was a successful, even though it killed me to say it, extremely
pretty divorcee, she was suddenly my mum's new BFF. What's that
old saying? 'Keep your friends close but your enemies' closer',
well to be fair to her I'd be worried my husband might stray too,
if I looked like her and my new neighbour looked like my mum. Not
that my mum would even look twice at Mr Dawson, no, middle aged,
balding and with a paunch where his six pack should be really
wasn't my mum's type, so I'd say he was safe.

"Oh Jenny it's so great you could make it, and hello
again Olivia." Her over enthusiastic joy at seeing us again
really did nothing for my mood.

"It's Libby" I corrected rather curtly, my mum shot
me a quick warning glare, I stretched my eyes wide so she would
know I was shouting what? Back at her. I wasn't trying
to be cocky but in my experience if you don't nip this wrong name
thing in the bud I'll end up always being called by the name only
my paternal grandmother knows me by. No, my name is Libby, I mean
I wouldn't dream of calling her Mrs Dowdy-son, even though if she
calls me Olivia again I just might.

"Well 'Libby'" She emphasized my name,
touchéto you I thought, "The kids are in the
den, why don't you run along and play, there are plenty of drinks
and snacks as well as loads of games and things to keep you
occupied." I looked at my mum, surely this woman is insane, I'm
almost 16 years of age I don't even remember the last time
someone told me to 'run along and play'. My mum was of no help at
all, she could barely keep the smirk off her face as she nodded
in the direction of the 'junior play pen'.

As I peaked round the door to the den I was surprised
to find at least a dozen kids in there, all just hanging out. The
boys crowded around the Xbox, engaged in a mixture of loud
cheering, belching and mock fighting, oh teenage boys are just
soOOoo mature. The girl's on the other hand were far more
civilised, they were sat next to the stereo on an assortment of
huge beanbags.

"Oh hi, its Olivia isn't it?" A cute little blonde
girl asked who was sat on the beanbag furthest away from me.

"Just Lib or Libby's fine." I said stepping further
into the room.

"Well don't just stand there, come in and sit down,
I'm Reah by the way." She said smiling, "Oh and this is Keira,
Jess, Amie and Zoe." She pointed at each as she introduced them;
I casually waved my hand knowing I was definitely not going to
remember all their names.

"Hey Re, aren't you going to introduce the new meat
to us?" I loud, confident voice shouted over from the Xbox area
of the room.

"Ignore him, that's my brother and he's a DICK." She
shouted back in just as loud of a voice. "So do you want a
drink?" She asked getting up from her lounging position. I
followed her to the fridge in the far corner of the room; she
purposely walked in front of the TV screen much to the annoyance
of her twin brother and his friends.

"So tell us all about yourself." Amie or perhaps it
was Jess asked as we returned to the safe haven that was the
girl's zone. I spent the next five minutes or so telling them
about where I'd come from, the reason why we'd moved, namely my
parent's divorce, well that and my mum getting a job offer she
just couldn't turn down, her words not mine. Yeah I pretty much
told them everything, except for one tiny detail, which I decided
it was probably better not to mention, I mean it was going to be
hard enough for me to settle in but if they know my mum was their
school's new principal, well let's just say the term 'social
suicide' would not be over exaggerating. No I'll keep that little
fact to myself as long as I can. I was hoping my deception would
last for at least a couple of weeks, I mean it wasn't obvious, my
mum had reverted back to her maiden name of Edwards and I still
had my dad's name, McKenzie so unless some teacher spilt the
beans I should be good for a while.

The girl's and I chatted easily for a couple of
hours, they filled me in on the town, places to go, where the
nearest shopping centre was, which boys had girlfriends, which
boys didn't have girlfriends and why they should be avoided at
all costs. It was going pretty well, and certainly much better
than I expected.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, pulling it out there was a
text from my mum just letting me know she was heading home, she'd
be leaving in a couple of minutes if I wanted to go. I was having
a good time so I texted her back saying I'd stay for a little
while longer, we only lived next door so getting home wasn't a
problem. She messaged me back with nothing but a smilie face and
I knew she'd be patting herself on the back right about now.

"So beautiful" Connah, Reah's brother, drooled as he threw
himself on the other half of my beanbag, instantly draping his
arm over my shoulder, "See anything you like?" He raised his
eyebrow expectantly.

"Leave her alone, Connah, come on, don't be a dick." I followed
the sound of the male voice; it belonged to possibly the best
looking teenage boy I had ever seen outside of a magazine. He had
the whole boy next door thing going on, his dark, messy hair fell
perfectly, framing his stunning blue eyes, they were the colour
of faded blue jeans and the type of eyes you just knew would
change depending on his mood. He flashed me a bright smile before
returning to his game.

Thankfully Connah quickly grew bored of my company and within a
couple of minutes he was heading back in the direction of the
Xbox. By half ten I was ready to go home, I still had a lot of
unpacking to do and sorting out before I could go to bed, so I
said my goodbyes.

"Where do you live?" I recognised the voice from before; hoping I
wasn't blushing I quickly explained it was only next door.

"Hey, it's getting late I'll walk you back." He offered, I was
too surprised to say anything. "I'm heading off now anyway, so
it's no big deal."

We chatted about school and which teacher's to look out for;
before I knew it the two minute journey was up. "Well thank you
for walking me home that really was very kind of you." I said
smiling gratefully at him, hmmm perhaps this town isn't going
to be so bad after all I thought to myself.

"Hey no worries, I'm Tom by the way." He said holding out his
hand for me to shake. As I took his hand he pulled me quickly to
him and kissed me lightly on the lips. "Well goodnight Libby" he
said pulling away from me after a couple of seconds. "It was a
pleasure to meet you, I'm sure I'll see you in school tomorrow,
I'll look out for you." He gave me another peck on the cheek
before quickly heading off down the street.

I stood there for a second still shocked at what had just
happened, had he really just kissed me? No matter what, I had to
give it to him that hand shake thing was one hell of a move. I
touched my lips remembering the feel of his mouth on mine, as I
headed towards my door I knew I wouldn't be able to hide the
broad smile on my face.